The Raptors offensive ills start with the loss of Brown and Curry, but it doesn't end there. The Raptors are a jump shooting team. Brown and Curry open up a lot of space for the cutters (i.e. McGrady and Carter. You're just kidding yourself if you think Christie does anything else but shoot) and post players (the aforementioned Carter, Davis and Willis). That's kind of the simplistic approach. Carter and Christie haven't been stroking the 18-20 foot jumper with any regular consistentcy, but that's for two reasons, I can surmise. One, Christie is back on one of his cold streaks. Carter isn't a true jump shooter. Two, without Brown and Curry to keep the defense honest, the man-to-man defense played against the Raptors is much tighter.

Here are a couple of solutions I think might work, given their perdicament. The Raptors need more offensive movement. Without true shooters to open up the court, they need to get their men inside and take it to the hoop. But without the shooters, the inside is all clogged up. A double edged sword, is it not? But creating more movement, rotations (and I'm not talking the triangle offense, but simple screens, picks, back cuts, etc. like Utah in the pros or even Princeton in college) the Raptors might get some more easy baskets, but might be a bit more boring the half court set.

Another alternative is posting up Carter more. Play him like the Bulls played Jordan in his comeback. Use him as the post player. Have the offense run through him from the post. On the double team, he can pass out to Oakley for the jumper. If he's not, he can take just about anyone one-on-one. Once again, simplistic but realistic as well.

I don't think the Raptors can go and find someone that easily. Moochie Norris and Jeff McInnis in the CBA are available. Both are quality CBA point guards who can score. They would be a nice addition. Matt Maloney would have fit well. He's a smart player who can shoot, albeit a bit slow footed for the Raptors.

If the Raptors can weather the this storm and get Curry back in two weeks and Brown back in four to six weeks, the team should be stronger. They are now finding that McGrady can do more than they think and can disappear more often than a player of his caliber should warrant.

Finally, play Alvin Williams more. He isn't a bad player. He needs some more playing time. Did you know the Raptors have no player (with the exception of Sean Marks who has played all of two games) shooting above 50% from the floor and no player averaging more than 4 assists per game (6 are averaging above 3 though)? Pretty amazing.